From staff reports
A Franklin man is facing child endangerment and other charges after a UPMC Northwest physician discovered injuries to his five-year-old stepdaughter.
Franklin police said they were dispatched to a Buffalo Street residence on Feb. 14 for a report of a child attacked by a dog. Gary Lynn Baker, 26, told police he had been home alone with the child when he heard her scream and found his adult pitbull on top of his stepdaughter, biting the girl’s face, police said.
Police said they insisted that Baker and the girl’s mother, who Baker had called home from work, take the child to the UPMC Northwest emergency room for a visible injury to her face, bruising to her eyes and the possibility of internal injury.
Police said the injuries, according to the physician, were not indicative of a dog attack, but child abuse.
Baker was charged with a felony count of endangering the welfare of children- parent/guardian/other commits offense and a misdemeanor count of unsworn falsification to authorities because he provided a written statement to police that his stepdaughter’s injuries occurred during a dog attack, police said.
Baker was lodged in the Venango County jail as he was unable to post $10,000 bail, and his preliminary hearing is scheduled March 3 in Central Court.
